Had the opportunity to visit with family that lives in Las Vegas a couple of months ago. By the way Honey, thanks for finding my tasting notes. During our stay, I decided to take the family to the Hoover Dam (only about 40 minutes from the strip) to show off the engineering masterpiece to my 4-year-old.

Heading back toward Las Vegas, we travel through Boulder City, Nevada, a very picturesque little community, and what does my wife spot: Boulder Dam Brewing Company. I was planning to just keep driving, but my wonderful wife asked me if I wanted to stop for a beer. I thought about this for a nano second, then locked the brakes up, turned the wheel left and came screeching into a parking spot outside this dam brewery. Looked at my bride and said, “Sure.”

Comfortable atmosphere and a friendly server greeted us at the door to offer us a place to take a load off after our previous adventures. Once seated I decided to order up a couple root beers for the wife and kid, and the Six Shooter sampler tray for myself. My lineup consisted of:

POWDER MONKEY PILSNER — Named for the Hoover Dam workers who packed all the explosives, this beer is flavorful and refreshing. It is light, malty character and straw color. 4.7% abv / 41 IBU

HIGH SCALER IPA — The name comes from the dam workers that dangled from ropes 700 feet above the canyon floor to blast off the face of the cliffs. Even though the beer is light in the IBUs it makes it up in flavor and aroma. I’m sure my hop head friends would like this one. 6.5% abv / 32 IBU

HELL’S HOLE HEFEWEIZEN — Malty, light and delicious as a hefe should be. I must confess: I did put an orange slice in the brew. I know, Man Law: “no fruit in beer.” There are however hints of banana and clove from Bavarian yeast. 4.8% abv / 16 IBU

STRAWBERRY BLONDE —This blonde is beautiful with her pale, cloudy strawberry blonde color. Nice and crisp to battle the dry desert heat. No strawberry extracts on this one; they put 84 pounds of fresh berries in this brew. 6.0% ABV / 21 IBU

SHANDY — Curiosity got me to try this concoction. Their Powder Monkey Pilsner is mixed in with lemonade. It’s a bit weird but it is apparently a British thing — who knew?

RATTLESNAKE BITE –After the Shandy I obviously had to try this craziness. Once again the Powder Monkey Pilsner is mixed with a dry, hard cider, strangely different and surprisingly good. Dam good!

I recommend everyone make the venture to Boulder City next time you are in Las Vegas, but wait a few more months because it is about 1000 degrees down there this time of year. For more information about this great pub, you can look them up on their website: www.boulderdambrewing.com.